


Youth is Wasted on the Young

by Fruitloopy



Category: Leverage
Genre: De-aged Eliot Spencer, Gen, Team Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-05
Updated: 2013-07-05
Packaged: 2017-12-17 19:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/871273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fruitloopy/pseuds/Fruitloopy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot is turned into his teen self.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He had tried to stop himself from laughing, really he had. Okay well maybe his heart wasn’t completely in it but then again it’s not every day you see the guy who could kill you using a duster and sheer force of will reduced to a teenager and okay, so the landing hadn’t been soft, nor had the right hook that connected with his jaw but it was all worth it baby. 

*

Stunned. 

Stunned and disturbed. 

Stunned, disturbed and surprised. 

He’d always imagined Eliot to have been stocky, instead he was a slip of a thing, wiry and not an ounce of puppy fat on the boy before him, maybe a little around his face but the kid looked powerful for his age and angry, very angry.

*

She couldn’t believe it, Eliot was gone and in his place was this kid with messy hair, freckles and the bluest eyes she’d ever seen, wearing Eliot’s clothes. 

Eliot would definitely be pissed if he knew that, Eliot was very particular about his stuff. 

 

*

She felt the sharp twist in her solar plexus and before she knew it she was crossing the short space to put her arms around the boy... man... Eliot. 

His breathing was harsh and he was clenching and unclenching his hands, nostrils flaring like a wild animal. The control that Eliot carried with him as an adult was obviously something he’d learned to do. 

He stiffened in her embrace and she was unsure if she should ignore his rigid posture or give him some space, she went with her instinct, keeping one arm around his slight shoulders and slowly walking him to the sofa, all the while talking to him.

He remained unresponsive but his body was shivering and for a while she just let him sit quietly hoping he would calm on his own. 

*

What the fuck had happened to him?

He was a kid. Well, he wasn’t a kid but his body was. Eliot could feel his heart pounding and the hot cool rush of his boiling blood chilling his skin. 

His god damn clothes were hanging off him. His clothes hadn’t done that since he was thirteen. 

He tried to feel guilty about punching Alec but it was hard to feel sympathy with a guy who got laid out by a pubescent child. 

Sophie was too close to him, the sweet tang of her perfume messing with his addled hormones and the soothing sound of her voice grating with his raging temper. 

He wanted to tell Nate to take a fucking picture but the man worried him, Nate was stronger than him now, punching Hardison was one thing, laying into the older man was a risk Eliot wasn’t sure he should or could take right now. 

Vulnerable. Alone. Scared. 

Yeah just how he’d felt at thirteen, just what he’d promised himself never to feel again. 

At least Parker seemed like herself, but you know it was Parker, who really knew?


	2. Chapter 2

“What the hell?!” Nate recovered quickly, placing himself on the coffee table in front of Eliot and Sophie. 

Sophie’s voice was low and calm “Nate, let’s just leave the how’s and why’s for later and deal with the situation as it stands.”

Nate looked at Sophie like she had grown a third arm. He was dealing, in fact he was dealing pretty damn well considering one of his team just got reduced to their adolescent self before he very eyes. 

Hardison answered for him “Sophie, hate to say this but that is the situation right now. Like in how the hells name did that just happen?”

“Yeah it was such a cool trick.” Nobody reacted “Do you think if this boy dropped the statue again Eliot will reappear.” Again no reaction, except for Eliot’s defeated sigh. He was doomed. 

Sophie stood and gestured at the others to follow her, leaving Eliot to collect himself on the sofa, alone.

“No, I mean let’s make Eliot comfortable. He’s scared Nate-” she ignores the snort from Alec. “-he has just been returned to a child and by the looks of it he’s still Eliot in there, adult Eliot, but he’s a kid with all that entails and what he doesn’t need is the people he is relying on to freak the fuck out.”

Nate sighs, he knows she’s right. Like the situation or not, right now Eliot needs them to be in control and to help him, not to ask a dozen questions that until they – read Hardison – have done some research won’t be able to answer. 

“Okay, we treat this like a job. Alec, go research all you can on that statue, who owned it, stole it, bought it, made it. Parker, I’m going to need to you get ready, whatever Alec finds we could be breaking into research labs and so on. I’m going to do some digging on the people we already know connected to the statue.”

Sophie looked at him expectantly. “Oh and Sophie, Eliot is probably hungry.”  
One perfectly plucked eyebrow arches. Nate stammers “Teen boys tend to like Pizza, burgers, just lots of food. There are menu’s on the side.” 

 

*

This isn’t good, he can’t look after any of them in this state. He might have landed a lucky one on Hardison but he’s left the team vulnerable to attack. He has failed. 

Eliot watches as the team go to work on his current problem, the shaking has subsided somewhat and he can feel his body slow a little. He fists his hands into his too big jeans as Sophie sits next to him on the sofa, her shoulder touching his. 

“We’ll solve this. You know us we will steal, lie, beg, borrow and cheat until we do.”

Eliot tried for a smile but he could tell it fell two points to the side of a grimace.”

“You haven’t let us down Eliot, you didn’t ask for this and we certainly don’t blame you. So you sit tight and let us do our thing.”

Eliot nodded, not convinced but appreciating Sophie’s sentiment all the same. 

“And you know, once you are back to normal we’ll find a job where you get to punch a few people.”

Sophie bumped her shoulder against Eliot and he smiled a little. They sat in silence for a moment just letting Eliot calm a little more while Hardison, Nate and Parker got to work.

*

“Oh the kid _is_ Eliot. Now I get it.”

“Who did you think it was Parker?”

“I don’t know, I thought maybe Eliot had gone through ‘The Portal’.”

“Woman! I can’t even begin-”

Eliot sighed, he was doomed but he was grateful, after all miracles and the impossible were their speciality.

**Author's Note:**

> This has been rolling around in my head for a while, I may add to it later but I'm just getting back into writing, so I am starting small.  
> Deaged!Eliot is a bit of a weak spot of mine... hope you don't mind.  
> Many thanks for reading.


End file.
